Rusty aims too high!

Young Rusty the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel had an embarrassing problem. Everything was going well until he started to cock his leg at about five months of age. Instead of watering the local lampposts, Rusty had a problem which meant he urinated on the underside of his body and under his armpits. He was now over a year old with no sign of things getting better.

His owners were becoming very distraught about the problem. It meant Rusty had to be bathed at least once a day and his skin was starting to get sore where it was constantly wet. Something drastic had to be done. We all scratched our heads in the practice. Rusty had no illness problems and all his nerve reflexes were fine but he just seemed to slightly arch his back when he had a pee and everything went skywards.

I consulted a soft tissue specialist in Bristol and he said that he had only seen one other case which took two operations to correct. He talked me through the procedure and said that he thought it was something we could do without the need for referral to a specialist centre.

The plan was to close up the hole where Rusty normally peed and make a new hole a little further back but pointing downwards. Technically it’s known as a prepucial urinary diversion operation.

It’s always a little daunting to be doing an unfamiliar operation but the surgery went very well. Rusty seemed very comfortable at his three day post op check and had started to use the new hole almost immediately after going home. His owner was delighted. He even got used to wearing his Elizabethan collar whilst his stitches healed.

On the first trip up the road, Rusty cocked his leg against a car wheel which made a metallic ping when he hit the hub cap. He was so surprised, it made him jump! Now Rusty is marking his territory just like nature intended and we are all delighted.